Saturday, August 17, 2013

FREE Excerpt: Silicon Valley Sex Scandal: Thierry Pepin Instagram

Here's a free excerpt from Silicon Valley Sex Scandal from my own files that hasn't been pubbed on any retail web sites where the book is being sold.

This is the raw version, and the way it goes to final edits when I submit it to the publisher. This particular scene is when Shannon starts to worry about being stalked by a lunatic. One or two lines had to be edited out because this is a pg rated blog. But only a few.

By one in the
afternoon, he came out of his office and noticed the blank brick wall in the
reception area. As he passed by Karla’s desk, he said, “I’ll be out for the
rest of the day. If you need me for anything important call my cell.” He didn’t
wait for her to respond. He walked out to his car, climbed inside, and pulled
out of the parking lot so fast the back tires screeched.

At first he thought he might drive over to Justin’s, but
he decided that would have made him look too needy and desperate, which were
two things he’d never been in his life. And yet he couldn’t stop thinking about
never seeing Justin again, or Justin working for someone else. If he’d known
who had offered Justin the job he could have put an end to that right away and
then Justin would have had to come crawling back to him. Of all the things
Shannon could have predicted that would happen, this outrageous outburst from
Justin would have been the last. He never would have guessed Justin would
abandon him in such a cold and heartless way. He’d come to trust and depend on
him for everything. The world felt so large and he felt so alone he didn’t know
what to do, so he drove up to San Francisco and decided to forget about everything
for a few hours.

He parked a few blocks away from the small bar he’d gone
to the previous weekend. It wasn’t his favorite bar nor was he all that
familiar with it. He only went that bar because he knew it was easy to park
across the street and he didn’t feel like driving around anymore. He also knew
he might find a man looking for a little fun and games in the middle of the
afternoon. Bars like this were notorious for the closeted married types. The
closet married types were notorious for no strings attached sex.

The sun burned brightly that day. When he entered the bar
he had to blink a few times so his eyes would adjust to the darkness. He heard
disco music playing in the background, and it smelled of stale whiskey and
cigarettes. Although smoking had been banned in places like this, he knew those
rules were not followed as strictly as they should have been. He pulled out a
bar stool near the front door and sat down three seats away from a man with dark
hair in a gray business suit.

A short chubby bartender walked over and set a paper
napkin in front of Shannon. He asked, “What can I get you?” and stood there
waiting for Shannon to answer.

“I’ll have a white wine,” Shannon said. He didn’t drink
often and it was too early for hard liquor anyway. Besides, he didn’t like to
drink and drive. The last thing he needed was to get pulled over for driving
while intoxicated. That was the sort of thing that would have made all the
headlines for someone with the kind of fame and notoriety Shannon had. They
didn’t stalk him like a celebrity, but they would have found it more than
entertaining if he’d done something wrong.

When the bartender turned to get his wine, the man with
dark hair three seats away turned to Shannon and said, “It’s quiet in here
today.”

Shannon nodded. “I don’t usually come here this time of
day. I wouldn’t know.” There couldn’t have been more than ten other people in
the bar…older men in bad clothes. But Shannon didn’t feel like making light
conversation. He still couldn’t figure out why Justin had been so dramatic.

The guy laughed. “I don’t come here often myself, at any
time of day.”

Shannon noticed a wedding band on his finger. This didn’t
surprise him, not even in San Francisco. “I see.”

The guy took a sip of his martini and smiled again. “You
mind if I move closer. I feel like I’m shouting at you.” He reminded Shannon of
a guy who had just graduated from college and didn’t wear suits often. He would
have looked more comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt. And the suit hadn’t been
tailored well. It hung on his thin lanky frame and sagged in all the wrong
places.

“Whatever makes you happy, dude,” Shannon said.

The bartender set a glass of white wine in front of
Shannon and the guy sat down on the bar stool next to him. Shannon handed the
bartender a twenty dollar bill, told him to keep the change, and then he
reached for the glass of wine.

While Shannon took a sip of wine, the guy said, “I didn’t
think I’d meet anyone like you in here today. Most of the time they are so much
older and not in the best shape.”

“I thought you didn’t come here often,” Shannon said. He
didn’t feel like playing stupid games. And he’d heard that line more than once
from slick guys in cheap suits.

“I really don’t,” the guy said. “I was just talking about
what I’ve seen the few times I have been here.” He moved closer and put his
hand on Shannon’s knee. He squeezed it and said, “And I truly don’t see guys
like you often. You’re so sweet and adorable.”

With that remark, Shannon set the wine glass on the
table. He smiled, reached down, and removed the guy’s hand from his knee. “I’m
not all that sweet and adorable, trust me, pal.”

“I find that hard to believe,” the guy said. He laughed
and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the back of Shannon’s bar stool.

Before Shannon had a chance to say anything, he felt his
phone vibrate and he pulled it out of his back pocket. He thought it might be
Justin calling to apologize for making such a ridiculous scene that morning.
But when he looked down at the caller ID he saw Terry’s name instead. He almost
put the phone back in his pocket without answering it. But he felt like being nasty
to someone and Terry had showed up at the right time and place.

“Hello,” he said, noticing from the corner of his eye the
guy next to him was moving closer.

“I’m at work,” Shannon said.
He smiled and shrugged at the guy next to him. “I’m really busy now.”

“I just called to see if you want to have dinner
tonight,” Terry said. His voice rose with a lilt and he sounded excited and
happy about something.

Shannon figured this was as good a time as any to set
this guy straight. In this mood, he figured he could do it the way he should
have done it long ago. While the guy next to Shannon reached down and grabbed
his upper thigh, Shannon turned sideways and spoke into the phone with a firmer
tone. “I think it’s time you stopped calling me. I’ve tried to be nice and I’ve
tried to be polite and you just don’t seem to get the hint that I’m not
interested in getting to know you better.”

“But you said you’d call me,”
Terry said.

“I said I would call you sometime.” Shannon rolled his eyes. “When a guy says he’ll call you
sometime that means the odds of him
actually calling are pretty slim, dude. You’re old enough to know this.”

“But what about what we have together,” Terry said.

“What do we have together? That’s not anything significant. That’s called a trick.”

The guy sitting next to Shannon blinked.

Terry laughed. “Oh, you know you don’t mean that, silly.
You’re just upset about what happened with Justin this morning.”

Shannon’s eyes opened wider. The guy next to him tried to
grab his ass and he smacked his hand. “How to you know about what happened with
Justin?”

“I was on my way to bring you breakfast this morning and
I overheard the whole thing,” Terry said. “And I don’t blame you for being
upset with him. I don’t think he treated you well at all. You should have fired
him on the spot.”

This conversation was beginning
to make the short hairs on the back of Shannon’s neck stand up. And Shannon was
not about to discuss Justin with him or anyone else. “You need to stop calling
me, dude. I’m not going to dinner with you, I don’t want you coming around my
office with breakfast or lunch, and I don’t want to see you again. Leave me
alone.” Then he hung up without saying good-bye or waiting for Terry to
respond.

The phone vibrated again and he put it in his pocket. By
that time the guy next to him was squeezing his upper thigh and looking at him
with a naughty grin. If he hadn’t been so cute Shannon would have smacked him
in the face and left the bar. But he smelled like spicy aftershave and reminded
Shannon of Keanu Reeves in the wrong clothes. He had those dark gypsy eyes that
penetrated without trying too hard.

Second Chance: The Complete Series

About Me

Ryan
@ryanfield
Hybrid author of over 100 published modern romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN, FANGSTERS, THE RAINBOW DETECTIVE AGENCY and best selling VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE SERIES. (The profile photo isn't very good, but it's really me and it's recent from 2017. I'm not supposed to be a photographer. )
RfieldJ@aol.com

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Note to All Readers...

I welcome all comments and e-mails from readers of this blog or readers of my books.

All comments on this blog are treated with absolute discretion and all anonymous comments will remain private at all times. All reader e-mails sent to me in private will also be treated with discretion and will never, NEVER, be reprinted or reposted anywhere in public by me unless I get permission, in writing, from the reader. In other words, your privacy will always be respected.

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In this 59,000 word unabridged version of the sequel to "Chase of a Lifetime" that contains all of the original erotic scenes, Jim Darling finally finds the happiness he's been chasing for so long. He and Len Mayfield have settled into a quiet routine in their small newly renovated home in the Hollywood Hills, and they enjoy every minute they spend together raising Len's toddler grandson, Culum Mayfied.

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Unlike most stories, where the rich and powerful husband dumps the hard working, devoted life partner for someone younger, this one takes a turn in the opposite direction when the rich husband is the one to get dumped. But with young Josh's help, Roland learns in less than a week's time that his future can still hold both earth-shattering sex and a love of real substance.

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Disclaimer

I don't post photos or images here unless I'm certain they fall under the guidelines of fair use or public domain. But this blog has been around for a while and even though I've triple checked previous posts for photos and taken down anything questionable, I might have missed something and my intention was not to infringe on anyone's rights. I will continue to update, and all photos I post now will provide attribution of some kind. If not, they are believed to be in the public domain.